As Shibuya continues to change, 20 ceramic Akitas lose their home.

The top dog in downtown Tokyo’s Shibuya neighborhood is, of course, Hachiko, the famously faithful pet whose loyalty touched locals’ hearts so much that they erected a statue of the animal in the plaza next to Shibuya Station, which has now become a globally recognized landmark. The Hachiko statue isn’t the only adorable piece of pooch public art in Shibuya, though, because there’s also a whole Hachiko Family.

▼ TV personality and Shibuya native Jun Unoue poses in front of the Hachiko Family.

Installed in March of 1990 to commemorate the official renaming of the Shibuya Station North Exit Plaza to the Hachiko Plaza, the Hachiko Family is an 11.2-meter (36.7-foot) wide, 4-meter tall ceramic relief depiction of 20 Akita dogs, the same breed as Hachiko. Designed by painter Ryutaro Kitahara while musing on the question of “What if Hachiko had a family?” and crafted by Tokyo-based public art organization Japan Traffic Culture Association, roughly 1,200 Shigaraki ware tiles were used in its construction.

▼　The Hachiko Family can be found on an exterior wall of JR Shibuya Station, on the opposite end of the plaza from the Hachiko Statue.

However, at the edge of the background in Unoue’s tweeted photo, you might have noticed some partitions have been put up. They’re there as part of the ongoing construction work being done to Shibuya Station to ease congestion in and around one of the world’s busiest rail hubs, but sadly the Hachiko Family won’t be getting a new coat of polish as part of the renovations. Instead, the dogs are losing their home, and they won’t be getting a new one.

Since it’s part of the station building, the Hachiko Family belongs to rail operator JR East, and the company’s renovation plans require removing the relief from its current location. The company had considered moving the dogs elsewhere, but after looking into the logistics and consulting with the piece’s original installers, concluded that it would be prohibitively difficult to transport and reassemble the component tiles. As a result, the Hachiko Family is being removed, but not relocated.

JR East says that it does intend to preserve a portion of the relief, but how much will be saved and where it will be publicly displayed, if at all, has not been announced. The company has said, though, that the removal process will begin before the end of January.

Though the space directly in front of the relief is already blocked off, the upper portion remains visible, so the clock is ticking for anyone wanting to catch one last glimpse at the Hachiko Family, who’ll soon join the Shibuya moyai statue as former Shibuya Station landmarks.

Source: Shibuya Keizai Shimbun, NHK
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